The kbbreview Podcast

Welcome to the kbbreview Podcast, this is episode 12 of season 4 and your host as always is Andy Davies.

This week we’re talking about noise - more precisely the noise that all the stuff in your house, and of course your client’s houses, make. Beeping dishwashers, spinning washing machines, humming fridges, flushing toilets, boilers firing up, extractors …extracting.

The background noise of our homes has never been more apparent than when we were forced to live AND work there and there is a lot of evidence to suggest that it directly affects our health and wellbeing.

If you are a designer or retailer do you ever discuss noise with your clients? Do you ever truly consider the acoustics of a room in your project designs when it comes to specifying products.

It’s such an interesting untapped area for design so we’re meeting Poppy Szkiler, who is the founder of Quiet Mark, the organisation that certifies the quietness of products. 

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Welcome to the kbbreview podcast, your host is Andy Davies and this is episode 11 of season four.

This week’s show is all about changes in EU competition law....no, don’t touch that button, I promise it’s worth it because it deals with a subject that has been winding up kbb retailers for years – the price of stuff on the internet.

The law is changing – and it will be adopted in the UK too – to mean that suppliers can charge different prices for different channels. In other words, the investment you make in them as showroom retailers, could finally be rewarded with a lower price than they’re charging online retailers.

We have all the legal background and analysis with top lawyer Stephen Sidkin from Fox Williams.

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Welcome to the kbbreview Podcast,  your host as always is Andy Davies and this is episode 10 of Season 4 .

It’s a really interesting episode this week too  as we discuss a subject that I’m sure many busy kitchen and bathroom retailers have somewhere in their minds at the moment – should I, or shouldn’t I expand the business?

Bigger premises, new location, expand your offering – it’s all so tempting isn’t it, but what are the pros and cons and what’s the train of thought that leads to the big leap?

We’ve got two great retailers, both have been on the show before, and that’s Dan Stronge from Jones Britain and Mark Edwards from House of Harrogate. Dan is literally in the middle of converting his new premises as he expands his business right now, and Mark went through the whole process a few years ago so we’re going to hear their stories, their decision-making process and some great advice for anyone thinking of giving it a go. 

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Welcome to the kbbreview Podcast, this is episode nine of season four and your host as always is Andy Davies.

We’re back after a bit of a post-kbb show break and we’re kicking off with a really relevant and timely topic -  how are retailers coping with the across-the-board price rises hitting the industry? That means products of course, but also fuel, utilities and everything else.

And this leave those retailers with some very difficult dilemmas - do you pass that cost on to customer or not? And, if you do, when do you do it. 

We’ve got industry veteran Trevor Scott from RFK in the Midlands and comparative newcomer Antonia Robinson from Alexander James Bathrooms in Wigan.

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Welcome to the kbbreview Podcast, this is episode 8 of season 4 in old money, but all the cool kids are calling it the second of our two special episodes from kbb Birmingham 2022.

Your host is Andy Davies and  we're  carrying on with the themes of the show which  are the importance of getting back face-to-face, leading player's current views on the market and where it might go in the future and, of course, what's going on with the availability of products. 

Last time, there was a definite positive vibe coming from the manufacturers that there is light at the end of the tunnel but retailers were still seeing very real issues on the shopfloor. So let's see if others agree...

Featuring...

Luke Harding from Electrolux

Ashley Munden from InSinkErator

Richard Hibbert from the KBSA and KSL in Sudbury

and

Matt Phillips from Rotpunkt

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Welcome to the kbbreview Podcast,  this is the first of two special episodes of the show coming to you live from the NEC and kbb Birmingham 2022.

Your host as always is Andy Davies and we're looking at the state of the market, supply chain issues, and whether you can possibly predict or forecast what happens next.

In this episode we have Jim McEwan from Haier, Rashpal Sidhu from Roca, Jonathan Hartley from Samsung, and retailers Darren Morgan and Darren Taylor.

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Welcome to The kbbreview Podcast,  this is episode 6 of season 4 and your host as always is Andy Davies.

This time we’re challenging a bit of classic retail gospel – is the customer really always right?

In particular we’re looking at that in terms of kitchen and bathroom design, as long as it’s safe and complies with all the regs, can the client have whatever they want regardless of how much advice you’ve given them to the contrary?

Or is there a cut-off point when you say 'no' and walk away because you just wouldn’t want to put your name to it.

We're talking to two great designers, Jon Stewart from Vegas Kitchens in Folkestone and Kenny Luck from Luck and Fuller Bathroom Design Studio in Billericay.

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Welcome to the kbbreview Podcast, you’re listening to Episode Five of Season Four and your host as always is Andy Davies.

A New Year always gives us a great excuse to talk about predictions and trends for the 12 months ahead and beyond. So, given everything that has happened with lockdowns and covid how are consumers viewing their homes and what they need from them? What are the overarching trends and priorities that they consider when they embark on a major project and purchase?

We’ve got researcher Jane Blakeborough from Trend Monitor to talk us through her new report – the Top Ten Priorities For Our Homes in 2022. 

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Welcome to the kbbreview Podcast, this is episode four of season four and your host as always is Andrew Davies.

It’s a cracking episode all about the future of installation in this industry. We’ve talked about the massive issues retailers have with finding good fitters many times on this podcast but it’s not going away any time soon. 

With no short term solution, we have to look at ways to make sure we don’t continue to face the problem in the future.

Andrew hosted the first conference of the British Institute of Kitchen, Bedroom and Bathroom Installation - or Bikbbi  – at the QE2 Centre in Westminster. You can see Big Ben from the window so it was right in the heart of government and it focused on recovery, training, apprenticeships and attracting new blood into the sector.

So in this episode we have the highlights from speakers at that event and if you have had any issues at all with finding installers then you really need to listen, because this is all about solutions from the top down.

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Welcome to the kbbreview Podcast, this is episode three of season four and your host as always is kbbreview managing editor Andrew Davies.

One of the things that’s great about doing this podcast is getting to speak to fantastic retailers about how and why they do what they do.

And that is never more true than when we’re talking to finalists in the kbbreview Retail & Design Awards.

We’re now just a few weeks away from finding out who our winners are for 2022 at the event on March the 7th and in this special episode w're talking to a couple of our business category finalists to find out what makes them tick.

Before we meet them, we should caveat everything by saying that the fact w're talking to them is not indicative of how likely they are to win as the judging process is still actually taking place as we speak.

They’re just really interesting stories that are worth exploring and first up we have Neil Gokcen from The Birkdale Kitchen Company near Southport – a brand new business that’s not only up for New Kitchen Retailer of the Year but also Kitchen Showroom of the Year.

And then we have Darren Walker from Laings in Inverurie – a consistently high-performer in these awards and for 2022 they’re up for Kitchen Showroom of the Year as well as being in the running for both Kitchen Retailer of the Year AND Bathroom Retailer of the Year.

Two fantastic retailers, two very different stories of success.

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